After taking a back seat at City Hall for more than a year, commissioners are set to debate the issue of making it illegal to discriminate against people based on their gender identity.

In 2009, city commissioners first received a request to create an ordinance that provides protection to people who are transgendered, which includes everybody from cross-dressers to people who do not exclusively associate themselves with either the male or female gender.

But commissioners never have formally acted on the request. Mayor Aron Cromwell at the end of Tuesday’s meeting said he would like to formally hear the issue at the city’s Sept. 27 meeting.

If approved by the city, the new ordinance would make it illegal for landlords and employers to deny someone housing or a job based on their transgendered identity.

The city’s Human Relations Commission in 2010 did take up the issue and voted to recommend denial of the new ordinance.

Cromwell on Tuesday indicated he thinks the city should pass the ordinance.

“For me, this is about an issue of unfair treatment in a city that really prides itself on tolerance and acceptance of others,” Cromwell said.